Fair Competition, Small Businesses and Consumers Minister Jason Azzopardi announced amendments to the law on cooperatives, during a visit to the Manikata rural cooperative yesterday, on the occasion of the International Day of Cooperatives.

Among other things, the proposals are aimed at encouraging the creation of more cooperatives, promoting research and innovation, creating a Cooperative Bank, launching a campaign to strengthen cooperatives, creating the possibility of a commercial company being turned into a cooperative and vice-versa, and introducing the concept of social cooperatives.

Reacting, Anġlu Farrugia, the Opposition’s deputy leader for parliamentary affairs, noted that the government has finally considered a proposal that the Labour Party has been talking about for the past four years.

As MEP, Labour leader Joseph Muscat had actively campaigned in favour of the creation of a Cooperative Bank together with European associations, said Dr Farrugia, adding that GonziPN had initially resisted the idea and that it has now agreed with it as a matter of convenience.